


Mud and Thieves~  Muriel x MC (Female OC Rhemi)

by madllamamomma



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut, Mild Smut, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:07:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23885719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madllamamomma/pseuds/madllamamomma
Summary: This is the view of a female OC, named Rhemi.This takes place in the Muriel route, book X-Wheel of Fortune.
Relationships: Apprentice/Muriel (The Arcana), Muriel (The Arcana)/Reader, Muriel (The Arcana)/You
Comments: 4
Kudos: 73





	1. Chapter 1

This is the view of a female mc, named Rhemi. 

This takes place in the Muriel route, book X-Wheel of Fortune. 

Mud and Thieves~  
Muriel, Morga, and you are near the edge of the forest, hot on Luico’s trail. It’s still early in the morning, but Muriel and you are both busy at work training to prepare for the inevitable battle with Lucio. Muriel is busy on his quarterstaff forms, while you are not too far within ear shot. Morga is being particularly hard on you today. She insists that you are to master a particular defensive maneuver in case you get into a short ranged combat situation. You’re starting to feel the fatigue after the countless times you have attempted it and failed. You are starting to feel a bit useless and you are taking a short breather on a large boulder. You wipe your sweaty forehead, as Muriel emerges from his training space. He still won't always look you in the eye, and is still very stand-offish, but you feel like he is really starting to warm up to you. You feel a bit better with him just standing near you. He leans on the same large boulder you are resting on, Inanna trailing behind him. Without looking at you he mutters, “...You ok?..”

You look up at him. You still have a hard time grasping his enormousness, you feel so small compared to him, but his presents never feels overwhelming, his aura was so comforting and warm, but also a little sad, almost lonesome. It’s hard to not think about how you just wanted to nussle yourself against him, you want to know how warm his embrace feels. You suddenly shake the thought from your mind.

“Yeah! I’m… I’m freakin’ great!”, you lie, trying to hide your defeated posterior. Still feeling out of breath wiping the sweat off of your neck with your sleeve. He hands his water pouch, you stare at it for a moment uncomprehendingly, hearing the swishing sound it makes. He shakes it a little gesturing for you to take it. “Oh…” You smile at him, taking it happily. Your fingers accidentally brush against his, he shudders a bit, but doesn’t pull away, then crosses his arms looking the opposite direction, cheeks pink. “Thank-- thank you.” You drink the cool water, it feels wonderfully rejuvenating as it glides down your quenched throat.

He finally responds, “Don’t…. Don’t mention it.”

You make sure you don’t drink too much, and hand it back, finally catching your breath. “I’ll refill it for you once--”

“--Alright Rhemi, you can rest more when you're dead! Get your ass back to work!” You shudder at Morga’s voice and groan and involuntary. “Uuugh…”. Your mouth falls into a low frown.

Muriel snorts a bit looking at the space between your shoulder and your head. “... She seems to be in a good mood today.”

“Oh, completely and utterly pleasant! That’s Morga for you.~” You both chuckle a little.

“...Having a hard time?” His eyes meet yours for a moment before he looks back down to the water bag.

“Yeah, I’m trying to learn how to block, then sweep the legs with this thing.” You shake your bow slightly.

Morga stands resting her weight on a tree trunk a few yards away, impatiently tapping her foot. “I’m not going to wait all day, Magician!”

Your head hangs down low, your mouth pushes out a long and loud sigh. “...I’m coming.” You reluctantly remove yourself from the safety of the boulder, “...duty calls.”, you utter to Muriel. You drag your bow behind you as you shuffle back to Morga, head still hanging down low.

Muriel’s lightly grabs your shoulder before you get too far, stopping you. You whip your head around, looking up at his red face. He pulls his hand away rather quickly once he gets your attention. You flutter your eyelashes up at him. He just stares down, looking over your head for a moment, conflicted. You know he wants to tell you something. “Ye--yes, Muriel?”

He takes a sharp inhale. “...You’re holding it wrong.” He steps forward and takes your bow, from your loose grip, then holds it out horizontally in front of your body, cuing you to take hold of it, you grasp it obediently. He raises your bow around your eye level, you give him no resistance as he adjusts you. “...Hold it higher...like that...” He then moves his hands on the outside of your elbows, gently pushing them closer to your body. You watch his hands, trying to memorize where he places your arms. “.. elbows in…” He pulls away quickly. “...less openings that way.”

“Oh… um...o--ok…” The corner of your mouth starts to curl into a small grin. He looks away from you at a nearby tree, backing himself back to the boulder, one arm scratching the back of his head looking a bit embarrassed. “...Thank you, Muri-- ELLL--AAHH!!” Suddenly, Morga’s grabs the back of your travel cloak, slightly choking you, dragging you away from Muriel, a little shocked at Morga’s aggressiveness, as he watches you being carried away by the very grumpy teacher.

She quickly spins you around to face her. “This time, Rhemi. When I come at you keep you damn bow up! Use your weapon to the fullest advantage!”, she scolds. She starts to walk around you inspecting you. She taps the butt end of her spear on the outside of your right ankle. “Take your stance.” Then she taps your sternum with a little more force. “Chest out!”, you rub the sore area quickly before she notices. Then taps the top of your head, with a clunk, making you slightly wince in pain. That one hurt a bit. “Oww-- Hey!” You rub where she tapped your head unnecessarily hard, your bottom lip slightly out. She leans in shooting you a slightly scornful look. “Stay. Focused.”

You take your position, trying to imply Muriel’s pointers. Morga steps a few paces away from you then turns around to face you again. She pauses for a moment, effortlessly flips over her spear, sharp end is down to ensure she doesn’t slice you. Without warning she quickly runs at you, spear in hand. She swings the wooden part down on you, you block her attack immediately, hearing the loud crack of the two wooden shafts smacking together. She swiftly recoils delivering another blow, you block higher this time, still deflecting it, she starts to push you back. She’s taller and much stronger than you are, and keeps trying to push you backwards to get you off balance. This is where you always mess up. She will keep attacking you with her spear, find an opening as you desperately try to push her weight off of you, and make you fall on your ass. She attempts to make the same move, but this time your elbows are firmly into your body, giving the leverage you need to finally push her back. She stumbles backwards a bit surprised. You both froze for a moment. Then a flash of pride gleams from her eyes. You did it! You finally did it!  
You blurt out a victorious “WOOH!”, overcome with excitement and joy, you lower all of your defenses, whipping yourself back to Muriel who is watching from the boulder. You twirl your bow above your head, you shake your hips side to side in celebration. You notice his eyes a bit wide and cracks a small smile on his face. “Hey, Muriel! Did you see that? I did it! I--”

THWACK!! You feel your feet fly out from overneath you, everything feels like it’s in slow motion. Goddamnit.You forgot to sweep the legs. You fall down to the hard unforgiving earth on flat on your face.

SPLAT!  
That was an unpleasant squishy sensation. You suddenly are feeling wet all over the front of your body. You slowly lift your head up, realizing you had landed into an old puddle. You’re completely covered in thick blackish- gray mucky mud. “Bleh!! Ptthhhh!” It even got into your mouth a bit. You try to cough and spit it out, your tongue flicking in and out of your mouth in disgust, shaking your hands, trying to wipe your mouth and your eyes off with your muddy hand, unsuccessfully. Once you managed to get an eye open, you see Morga standing over you slightly irritated (but not much as she was), sporting a very sour expression. “...You forgot to--”

“--Sweep the legs…” you scoff, slightly irritated with yourself, still trying to spit out the mud. “….yeah-- I know...” You attempt to get up, but aren’t having much luck with the slick mug giving you no traction. Morga just stands there silently, watching as you struggle blankly, slowly shaking her head in disapproval. You suddenly feel large hands grab your underarms, gently lifting you back to your feet. You blindly frisk for the back of the muddless part of your cloak, to remove the muck so you can see. You feel a tug on the cloak and are handed the back of the cloak. Once the mud is out of your eyes, a very concerned looking, blushing, Muriel appears standing next to you.

“...Thank you.” You blink, then pat his arm out of habit, accidently getting mud on it, then try to quickly wipe it off. “Oops…”

He raises an eyebrow, you think you almost see a stifled chuckle from him as he watches you fluster. He stops you and brushes the rest off with ease. Your now red face luckily covered by the rest of the mud, “Sorry…” you give him a nervous smile. 

He sharply exhales through his nostrils, and shrugs, “...It’s just mud.”.

Morga signs then throws her spear’s head into the ground and sits down on a nearby log from an up-rooted tree. “Well you at least improved a little.”

You shrug, “I guess so.” pulling a leaf out of your hair and flicking it to the ground with a cringed look on your face.

Morga just stares at you a bit and you feel a slowly more and more uncomfortable, you feel like her gaze is burning a hole through your face. She sharply sighs flicking her wrist. “... Go wash off, you look ridiculous.” She stands up from the log pulling her spear out of the ground and starts to walk away. “...we will meet back in two hours then move out of the forest. Make sure you eat something in that time.” She disappears into the forest leaving you and Muriel alone again.

“Uhhhhggggg!” You mumbly groan angrily, head held down, saddened by your short- lived success being completely destroyed by Morga. You can feel Muriel’s apologetic energy. He shouldn’t feel bad about your mistake. You then take in a long inhale, exhale straightening your posture, place your hands on your hips, and whip your head to look up at Muriel, “Well!--” He shutters a bit with your sudden movement. “...at least I blocked!” You give him a wide stupid smile, trying to cheer him up.

Muriel snorts a bit gazing at you in amazement and bewilderment of your positivity. “Yeah... You did block.”

You take off your cloak and try to wipe the grime off of you. Mud has gotten into almost all the wrong creviouses. You pull the front of your shirt looking down it, Damn, it's even down there? You try conjuring a cleaning spell that Asra has taught you, but with all of the relentless training Morga has been putting you through this morning, you can’t seem to muster enough magic to pull off the mud. You stop before you get too strained, you remembered when you passed out after healing Muriel at his hut, then decide to give up, sighing, “That's it!..” You pull off your cloak, casting it aside. “..I guess I’m going to need to take a bath.” You thoughtlessly start to unlace the strings of your large corset-belt around your waist and remove it, then start to unbutton the front of your mud covered skirt. 

Muriel’s jumps back in dismay. “--Huh?” Face, neck, and ears burning. “Hey! What are you--?” Without another thought, you pull down your skirt off your hips.

“What?” You ask confusingly, your skirt falls to the ground, revealing long, tight-fitting pants hidden underneath. A single bead of sweat drips from his forehead, he stands there frozen looking at you like you have grew two other heads. He looks like he was about to bolt into the other direction, far far away from the situation, never ever to return. He relaxes a little once he notices the pants looking a bit grumpy. It dawns on you how bad that looked, your face now blushing and you look down at your muddy skirt in your hands, then look back to him. “..I---I have these on underneath.” You point to your pants, Muriel turns his entire body, quickly looking away to a nearby tree incredibly embarrassed. You give a short humiliated sounding cackle, “...I won’t have just...you know… started to just… strip in front of--”

“--Stop-- just….don’t say it!” Muriel throws his hands up stopping you from finishing your sentence. Inanna stands near both of you, looking back and forth between the two of you, then sits on her hind legs. Scratching her nose with a front paw, letting out a soft whine, as if to say, ‘Well this is really awkward’.

An uncomfortable silence takes hold as a small breeze sways the branches all around as you both just stand there, awkwardly. You clear your throat a bit, trying to break the tension. “Could you... Ah..” You stop to scratch the side of your neck. “...Could you show me where that river is again, Muriel?” You work up a grin trying to defuse the weird situation and you collect your belongings. Muriel grumbles, face still bright red, and starts to lead the way without a word, Inanna and you trail behind him very quietly. Rhemi, what is wrong with you?  
He brought you to a much tamer part of the river, you sit on your knees at the bank, and you start to wash off your muddy skirt and cloak in the cool water, scrubbing it with a smooth stone to get all the muck out. Inanna decides to give you company and lays right beside you watching you intently, you glance at her with a kind smile, happy to have her beside you. “Oh, you wanna sit by me, Inanna?” She sticks out her tongue, wags her tail, thumping and russels leaves the ground.

Muriel is sitting down on the ground, back against a tree, cheeks still slightly flushed. Even though you’re back facing him, you can feel him occasionally eyeing you while you wash your clothes. You stand up and look in his direction, he quickly averts his eyes from you, and looks to a long piece of sweet grass he has in his fingers that he picked, then placing it into his mouth chewing on the stem. “Hey Muriel, I’m gonna get in now. Okay?” He won’t look at you, he wouldn’t admit it, but you can see it in his body language, he’s reluctant to leave you alone in these unfamiliar woods with Lucio, god only knows where. He opens his mouth struggling to ask if he can keep an eye out. You smile, looking at him fondly, and take pity on him. “You’re welcome to stay close though...to make sure I’m okay.” He glances at you and starts to look a little more at ease. You give him a playful grin with a wink. “...As long as you don’t peek!~”

He sputters, the piece of sweet grass violently ejecting from his mouth. He chokes on his words. You hide a grin behind your hand; You can’t help but giggle as you watch him as a huge visible shiver runs down his spine from what you had just said, his body heating up.

“--Kidding! I’m only kidding you!” You throw your hands up jokingly, still sweetly smiling, trying to stop your giggles. Maybe you shouldn’t have teased him like that, the poor guy can’t handle it. He starts to calm down slightly, but still glares at you is disbelief. “...I know you won’t peek, Muriel.” You can’t help but think about how cute he looks when he is flustered like that.

“Don’t-- Don’t say shit like that.” He scratches his chin, frustratedly.

“I’m sorry, Muriel, I couldn’t resist.” You lace your fingers behind your back, still grinning.

“Whatever.” He stands to his feet, grumbling under his breath, cheeks bright pink. “...Inanna,” Her head lifts up to him, they exchange looks for a moment, “...Make sure she doesn’t get eaten… or drown… or whatever, please.” Inanna gives a small bark and a tail wag.

Before he leaves to give you some privacy, he looks to you, “...I’ll be over there... if you need me…”, pointing to a large set of boulders approximately seven or eight yards away. You nod, thanking him.

Muriel shuffles away behind the boulders as you let down your hair. Once you stop heading the rattling of his chains, you start to take off the rest of your clothes and wash them. Once they were clean, you lay them out on a nearby low hanging branch, you were able to muster a drying spell, so you wouldn’t have to wait hours from your clothes to dry. Last thing anyone needs is someone getting a cold. You take a step into the cool water, audibly shivering and chattering your teeth. “It’s colder than yesterday!” Once in the water you quickly start to get used to the temperature and start to wash off the mud starting with your hair then working your way down your arms then your breasts, then the rest of your body. Inanna watching you with one eye open, lying comfortably, soaking up the warmth of the sun.

The water isn’t the ideal temperature, but it does feel good on your sore body. You sit there in the shallow water, your legs tucked into your chest, breasts pressed tightly to the top of your thighs. Letting your hair soak, you stare into the beautiful clear sky peeking through the branches. You slowly close your eyes. You can't help but think about the day before when Muriel took you finishing in this same river. You think about how broad his bare chest is, how detailed his abdomen is, how rugged but handsome his face is, how good he looked being in his own element, how close your body was to his, especially when he scooped you into his bare chest when you tumbled into the water after trying to catch a fish. Your face is starting to feel warm and the corners of your mouth start to lift upward in delight. You can’t shake the feeling of yearning to be back into his warm embrace, as you squeeze your legs a little tighter. A thought suddenly creeps about how you’d like to kiss his lips, how you’d like to feel your soft naked breasts pressed against his warm inviting chest. A sharp aroused pulse spouts from between your thighs.

You quickly open your eyes, you sputter and flounder in the water and start to slightly panic of the sudden thoughts and feelings. You startle poor Inanna, her head and ears pointing to your direction as you suddenly convulse in the water. You stand up out of the water, splashing your face repeatedly with the cool water, take a deep breath, quickly submerging your body fully underwater, and exhale a muffled scream, creating large air bubbles on the surface. You come up gasping for air, rubbing your eyes, trying to physically shake the thought out of your head. Stop that! Get yourself together, Rhemi! You both have a job to do!  
You are alarmed by Inanna’s wet tongue licking your cheek and neck. You look over at her, she has an anxious look on her face. “Sorry, Inanna. I’m ok. I’m just being an idiot.” You reassure her by scratching behind her ear until she relaxes, but she doesn’t seem to be convinced. You sit up, your trunk out of the water, you nipples hard from the cold air hitting your wet skin. You hug her neck, petting her rough fur and sigh, “...What’s wrong with me, Inanna?” She nuzzles her face and starts to lick behind your ear comfortingly.

Inanna pulls away. “Inanna?” She looks towards a bush, her fur starts to rise, and she lowers her head, and muffles a defensive low snarl. “What-- what is it?”, you whisper as you cover your breasts with your arms quickly. The thick bushes start to rustle. You squeak and submerge frantically back into the water to hide yourself from the intruder. Slowly a sleek reddish, orange fox emerges from the thick bushes fearlessly. Inanna’s fur relaxes slightly, but still keeps her eyes locked on the fox.

You feel relieved, sighing, “Oh, it’s only a cute little fox.” It starts to sniff the air around the bank of the river, as you watch it unconcerned. It comes over to your clothes, sniffing them, then rubbing their face into them, then starts to scratch at them. You stiffen a little. “Hey now, little foxy!” It looks over to you, you swear it looked you up and down, “...please be careful with thoses, I need them.” It twitches its ears. Inanna starts to silently square up to the fox. Tension in the air starts to build, Inanna steps her front paw closer, and lets out a low growl. You start to get a bad feeling in your chest. Don’t. Don’t do it....  
In one quick movement, the fox snatches your clothes, including your traveling cloak, leaving only your shoes, underwear, and your belt.

“Hey---Hey!--HEY!” You scream, spring out of the water butt naked, soaking wet, “GET BACK HERE WITH THAT!” The fox darts almost disappearing into a bush, Inanna cut it’s off, barking and growling. You both chase the little clothes-stealing orange bastard. “Inanna, don’t let it get away!”

Muriel comes running away from the boulder, “Rhemi! What’s wrong--”. 

You squat down, sitting on your ass, crossing your ankles, squeezing your arms around your knees tightly trying to cover everything, screaming, “HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK!” 

To be continued....


	2. Mud & Thieves~ Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inanna and the fox are still wrestling over the clothing, you’re butt naked at the bank of river at the edge of an ancient forest, and Muriel, one of the most bashful, skittish men you have ever met in your life, has just jumped into the situation to save you.

Both your eyes meet and you try to scramble to cover yourself. An involuntary blood curdling scream escapes your throat. Birds bolt out of the trees in all and you can hear them flapping, and caw-cawing away, shaking the branches, dropping leaves everywhere.

Muriel’s face changes from pure white to pink to red. You sit there in this strange tightly wadded up ball of limbs on the ground of the bank, you’re face so flushed that you feel your ears are on fire. “Muriel! Please! Don’t look at me!”

He slaps his hands covering his eyes quickly turning his back. “SHIT-FUCK!!” He’s face in and body is utter shock and dismay, blood red colors all of his visible flesh. _Oh god-- Muriel is NEVER going to talk to you again!_ He scrambles for words, “FUCK!-- I’m---I’m---I’m so sorry, Rh--”

Your attention goes back to Inanna’s and the fox battling over your clothing. You screech, “Never mind!--Just--GET ‘EM!”

“Get-- WHAT?” He screeches back.

You point over to Inanna still trying to fight the clothes out from the fox’s mouth without completing shredding them. “Fox! The fox! GET THEM! They have my fucking clothes!”

Muriel grits his teeth, keeping his back towards you and dashes over to the tug of war with your clothes. Before he could get close, the fox makes a sharp maneuver and jerks the clothes away from Inanna, scurrying away into the brush, Inanna closely runs being them. “Don’t let them get away, Inanna!” Muriel shouts as he starts to join the chase, taking a few large steps before you yell, “Muriel! …. _Ummmm._..Please wait! Don’t go!!”

He freezes, trembling at your request. “ _AHHHH…_.” He grunts painfully.

You manage to rapidly get your underwear and shoes on, covering your bare breasts with your arms and tug on the back of his cloak to let him know you are there. “Muriel…”

He jumps at your touch, then swallows hard, “W--what?” still shaking like a leaf..

You shiver and chatter you teeth as the cool air hits your exposed back, “D--don’t freak out... but I’m kinda--”

“-- You’re fuckin’ naked!” He barks as panic takes over his voice.

“...Yes…and….I don’t have any other clothes.”

“WHY?!”

“I didn’t expect this to happen!”

“Damn it!” He flounders for a sec, then quickly he pulls off his cloak, blindly throwing it to you. It drapes over your head and covers your body. _Holy shit it is so warm!_ You rapidly tight it, clasp your belt around your waist, making a sloppy make-shift dress. “...You-- _ah_.. you good?” He apprehensively turns back around, hand still covering his eyes. You grab the crease of his elbow and start to sprint into the trees after Inanna. “Yep!” You run down the small hill with such fury. _Morga would be proud._ “GET BACK HERE WITH MY SHIT, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!”, you war cry, pulling Muriel along, avoiding eye contact completely.

You both follow Inanna’s trail running deeper into the forest. Chasing the fox up a small hill, down an embankment, then back up to a dense, flatter tree covered area. Inanna stops dead in her tracks scanning the area, paces in circles then starts to loudly whimper. She stops, turning her head, ears pulls back, she looks at you with her intelligent eyes and whines sadly. She lost the trail. That thieving, orange, overgrown rat stole your clothes. At this point you are all panting, and out of breath. Muriel kicks up some of the dirt in frustration of the situation grumbling and cursing to himself.

You despairingly sit in the middle of a large log, burying your face in your hands. _What are we gonna do? More importantly what is Morga gonna do?_ You don’t even want to fathom that.

Inanna trots over to you, her tail between her legs, whining, and sits on your feet, nuzzling her face under your arm as if to apologize. You look up from your hands, poor Inanna, she feels terrible. You slowly pet her head with one hand and scratch under her chin and sigh loudly. “...It’s ok, Inanna, this wasn’t your fault…. Thank you for trying so hard.” She continues to whimper sadly.

Muriel sits on the log further away opposite of you, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, looking as defeated as you. This is a mess. He must feel just as terrible, if not worse right now.

You inch your body closer to him, you can feel his body stiffen as you get closer. He won’t even face your direction, face still red. “...This isn't your fault either, Muriel...” He remains quiet.

You slowly look up at his face, staring at his profile, he glances at you exposed shoulder in his peripheral, then averts them by turning his entire face away. He looks like he wanted to dig a deep hole and die. You place your hand over his, he shutters, you can feel the heat radiating off of him and continue to stroke Inanna’s head thatsh resting on your lap.

“… Please don’t look so sad! You both did everything you could.” Inanna closes her eyes and rests her head on your lap enjoying the affection, still looking like she feels fowl. 

Muriel stares at your hand that is placed on top of his, very flushed. “...I… _umm._ ” You turn back to him, waiting for him to collect his thoughts. He very sheepishly looks to the ground. “I--I... didn’t see anything… Just so you know.”

You flutter your eyes confused for a moment. “Oh... _Oh_!” You look back to Inanna on your lap, trying to hide your blushing cheeks, you honestly forgot about it for a moment. “Good...” You clear your throat. “... good… that’s _gooood._ ” You don’t believe him fully, knowing him, he wanted to spare your pride (and he didn’t want to talk about it. _Ever_.).

You all sit on the log together very still. You look down at the oversized makeshift dress made out of Muriel’s cloak. You look fucking ridiculous. You try to stop yourself from sputtering your giggles, but you can’t help it, they won’t go away. You cover your mouth to stop them from spiralling into full laughter. Your shoulders convulse, making it look like you were upset, and Muriel thinks you are trying not to cry. He turns his head, reaching out with his other hand, hesitating, unsure how to comfort you, about to touch your shoulder, “ _Umm_ …. Rhemi--”

You look up at him and lose your control, laughter fills your lungs and you let them out with full force. There was nothing you could do about the situation right now, might as well laugh about it. “Muriel, I’m sorry!”

Muriel stares at you with confusion, “You're laughing??”

Your hand leaves his and pats his arm. “Yeah! I know-- I’m sorry-- But it’s just-- funny!” 

He looks at you like you have lost your mind. “How?! Your clothes are gone! And you’re---you’re--” his eyes widen as he glances down to your body at his cloak.

“-- I know!” You hold your stomach muscles as it starts to ache, still laughing insanely. “..That’s why is so funny, it’s so stupid!-- Look at me!” You wipe a tear from your eye and shake it off your finger. “...This probably wouldn't have happened if I had brought other clothes!”

He still looks like he is in complete dismay, but he slowly starts to grin and chuckle a little bit, his tension in his body starting to relax a little. 

You lean your head on his arm as you continue to try to control your laughter, making him stiffen again, but he doesn’t pull away from you. “--I thought--- you were going to run away and never come back!”

He rubs his forehead, “...Thought about it...”

“Has this ever happened to you before, Muriel?”

“NO! Never!”

You sputter again, and choke on a thought. “At least I didn’t try to drown today! Could you imagine? If-- if you had to try to fish me out of the river-- butt-naked!”

“--I don’t wanna think about that!” He says with sudden panic.

You continue, trying not to hyperventilate, but his reaction just now was too adorable! You finally start to catch your breath and give out a long exhale with a huge smile, “I’m glad you were there, Muriel.”

“--What?” He sneers and shoots you a look of suspicion. “Why?”

You can’t help but smile at him. “Because right now, I’d be running around getting lost, ass- naked, and alone. Probably a little scared. Besides, I like being around you.”

“I don’t know why... You shouldn’t--” He scoffs.

“--Well, I do!” You interject before he could be negative about himself again, staring at him tenderly. ”I feel happy when I am with you.” You smile gingerly. You wish that he would see what you do. He may be grumpy, skittish, and anti-social, but he is also incredibly kind hearted and gentle. You know he would do anything to keep you safe. 

He flutters his eyes at you, surprised at your boldness. You shrug, “I don’t know many people who would have dealt with my silly, clumsy ass.” 

He sneers at you, not believing your words, but also doesn’t know how to argue with you. “You’re.. You’re not..all that bad...” He blushes.

“Thanks.” You tuck one knee up to your chest.

The three of you all sit in silence comfortably for awhile. Inanna eyes suddenly widen as the wind shifts. She stands up on all four limbs and sniffing the air tentatively. You both hold your breath watching her muzzle in the air, then moves to the ground, with a low bark she starts to walk into the trees, Muriel shoots up off the log. “She says she's got something!” He reaches out offering his hand.

You take it without a second thought, he grips your hand firmly, but you can feel his gentleness, you squeeze it back. _He’s so warm._

You both follow Inanna’s fluffy black tail for a few yards. Her nose inches from the ground as leads you both to a small hole of an old rotted out tree stump. She starts to paw at the hole that looks like a possible entrance to a burrow. Muriel ducks down to scope it out, you can hear the hissing of an angry and defensive fox. Your heart feels like it skipped a beat, your face washed over with relief and joy. Your mouth opens about to celebrate.

He sharply sighs, shaking his head. “Well...This _is_ the fox...” He frowns, sitting down this his legs cross. Your heart falls into your stomach and side of your mouth curl down. “..But...We have a problem.”

**To be continued~**


	3. Mud & Thieves~ Part 3

The bleak appearance on Muriel’s face doesn’t help to comfort you. You start feeling hot and angry. That fucking fox shredded up your clothes didn’t they? The fox made this already rather crappy morning even more of one.. Muriel nods his head towards the burrow. “… take a look.”

You can’t help but think about how much you would like to cook that little shit fox into a poison, or maybe a meat pie and serve it to Inanna. You bend down onto your hands and knees, peering into the small fox burrow, and you feel a grown sense of anxiousness with your anger.

It takes a moment, it is nearly pitch black inside, you can only hear the frantic hissing and snarling echoing in the darkness. As soon as your eyes adjust, you see four pairs of eyes, gleaming back at you. The little thief is baring its teeth, snarling, fur raised, standing his ground against the intruders. Hiding behind the thief fox was what looked like another slightly smaller one, tightly curling up two very small trembling puffs of fur, kits. They all look so petrified. Your clothes were mixed in with leaves and sticks around the smaller fox and the kits, making them into a cozy, warm bed. Perfect to keep warm during the upcoming winter frosts.

The intense hatred you had for the thieving fox melted away as you witnessed this touching scene. “ _Aww,”_ you whisper, trying not to scare the kits as they continue to shiver in fear.

“It was just trying to keep their family warm...” _How can you get mad now? They were trying to take care of their family._ You sit back up and sit on your knees on the ground. Muriel and you exchange faces, you are both so torn. “... what are we gonna do?” He frowns, unknowing. Neither of you are willing to take away the bedding from the fox family, but you both can’t continue this journey, you won’t make it anywhere near the south without the proper clothing.

Muriel stares, pondering at the burrow, his eyes widen and flashes with an idea. He digs through one of the pouches tide around his belt. He pulls out sticks that were tightly bound together with string. It’s a protective charm, just like the ones he has back at his hut-- The same ones used on Lucio back in his forest the day you first met him. He firmly places it above the entrance of the burrow. The thief fox stops his growling, and very skittishly peeps their head out of the burrow. They sniff and inspect the charm, keeping keen eye on all of the trespassers, especially Inanna. 

Muriel watches the fox resting his chin on his knuckles, his elbow resting on his thigh, his face softens into a kind smile. “… How about a trade?” The fox appears to be thinking it over for a moment, slowly swishing his fluffy tail back and forth, intently thinking it all over. They snort, then turn their nose up at the charm snoodily with a squeak. All three of you utter low disappointment noise from your throats. _You don’t have to speak fox to know what it meant._

The three of you keep sitting around the burrow, unknowing what to do next. You look up at the sky, it’s nearly time to meet up with Morga. She will not be very understanding about your sudden debacle.

Your eyes move back to Muriel, sitting there on the ground across from you. He only has his dark green scarf you’d bought him back in Vesuvia, a blackish tattered scrap of cloth, and chains around his neck to cover the top part of his shoulders. His chest and back are bare, you feel so guilty taking his cloak from off of his shoulders. “I hope you’re not getting cold.” He starts a bit, glances at your naked shoulder then darts back to the ground, pink returning to his cheeks.

“No. I’m fine....I mean I’ve got…” He touches the top of his scarf, rubbing it with his fingers, seeming to enjoy the softness of it. “...I’ve got this… thing still.”

Your attention shifts to the green scarf, you can’t believe he is still wearing it. The color looks good on him, he does seem like it a lot. _Wait a minute. The scarf!_ You suddenly remember you had bought one for yourself before you left on the journey. It was expensive, very warm, and you really really liked it. But desperate times call for desperate measures. _It isn't really your color anyway._ You blindly rummage your bag for it, finding it quickly. “Ok little fox..” You pull the scarf out of your bag, offering it to them. “...How about this too?”

Muriel stares at the scarf from your bag then shoot you a perplexed and irritatedly look. “--I--I thought you said you didn’t have any other clothing!!”

“It’s a scarf! It doesn’t really cover--” You gesture to your upper body, hovering over your breasts, fluttering your eyes “--all of... _this!_ ”.

Muriel just looks up away from you, bright red, trying to look anywhere but your chest. You also don’t want to admit to him that you had completely forgotten about it until now.

The fox starts to slowly walk out of the entrance of the burrow, sniffing the scarf warily, then starts to rub their face into it, you can tell it likes the feeling of it. “It’s really warm and cozy, better than those tattered old clothes!”

They stare thoughtfully at you, thinking it over, twitching their tail. They scratch their chin with their hind leg for a moment, then they look to the burrow, uttering a small yip. The smaller fox comes out of the burrow, dragging out all of your clothes with their mouth, agreeing with the trade. Muriel and you both exhale a sigh of relief, Muriel reaching out his hand, the thief fox sniffs it, tilling his head side to side, then starts to rub their face into his palm. “... thank you.” The fox couple tug the scarf into the den and you can hear cute, little squeaks from the kits as they happily remake their nest.

You get dressed as Muriel’s back is against you, hands tightly cover his eyes. He wasn’t very unhappy with the idea, but it was the fastest solution at that moment. You tap him on his shoulder once you’re fully dressed and he turns back around. You hand him back his cloak smiling, blushing a bit“Thanks, Muriel..... For everything today.”.

He returns the blush, and looks over to your now clothed shoulder. “You… you don’t have to say it like that.”

All three of you find your way back to camp, quickly finding some berries to snack on before all of you travel out of the forest. Morga sits waiting at the campsite looking very cross. “Did you wee babes get _lost_ of something? We don’t have time for dallying! We’re moving out!”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s been nearly a year since poor Morga was struck down in the south. After Luico’s defeat, Muriel and you both live part time at the shop and his hut, rarely ever sleep apart. You both had many adventures and mishaps together, (especially the _pumpkin bread_ incident) but the both of you love every minute you shared together.

You wake up this particular morning covered with furs and blankets, snuggled up in Muriel’s bed in his hut. You find yourself lying on his chest, both of you naked under the blankets from the night before. Your inner thighs are a little sore, your insides feel slightly swollen. But your body still feels tingly from the amazing sex from that night, so you don’t mind in the slightest. You rub his scarred chest lovingly, noticing a few fresh hickies left from last night. _Oops~._ Muriel’s eyes start to open slowly holding you tighter.

For some reason you dreamt about the time in the forest. It seems like it was forever ago, but you remember it so vividly. You laugh to yourself a little. _What made you dream about that?_

Muriel smiles groggily, raising an eyebrow at your sudden laughter. “What?”

You place a kiss on his chest, “Oh, nothing…just remembering something.” You close one eye looking up at him, grinning.

“What?” He kisses your temple, his hands gently caressing your bare back and squeezes your ass slowly. His touch always feels so good on your skin. He really has improved in his forwardness since then, You never would have thought you both would be here, holding one another, just like this. 

You giggle a little again, snuggling into his chest. “Do you remember our journey to the south?”

“...Yeah.”

“... remember that time when that fox stole my clothes...” Muriel’s face starts to slight scrunch together as you continue, “...You came running, and I screamed bloody murder because I was naked.”

Muriel lets out a loud sharp sigh, “Yes... I do.” he chuckles a little, to your surprise as he reminisces fondly.

“... did you really _not_ see anything that day?” 

Muriel stiffen a little bit holding his breath, eyes widen a little, “... _umm._ ” you feel his cheeks heat up. “What…. What makes you ask that?”

“I’ve always wanted to know.” Muriel replies with a low uncomfortable sounding groan. “Oh come on!--you can tell me.” You run your fingers through his hair, lightly scratching his scalp. “...You’ve seen me naked countless times now.” You start kissing his neck, lowering your voice to almost whisper. “... we make love on a regular basis...No need to hide things.” He melts into your touch, you move to his lips pressing into them tenderly as he kisses back. After you both part, you rest your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes.

He inhales deeply, giving you a guilty look, “So… I didn’t really see much when I came running out from the boulder….. _but_ …”

_Wait… But??_ Your head pops up quickly, you sit your upper body up, hovering over him. “-- _But_?! There's a _but_?” He groans, turning his head away in attempts to not answer, you push his face back to look at you with your finger, sticking out your lower lip in a slight cute pout.

“Ok, now you have to tell me!”

He frowns, then coughs a little, “...I remember you...you-- you made this crazy splashing sound-- I thought maybe you were drowning… so I….I--”

You inhale shockingly, clasping your mouth, “--Muriel!~”, a bashful but delighted grin takes over your face. “...You--you peeped, _didn’t_ you?”

Embarrassment and shame wash over his face, his eyes look to the wall near the bed. “...M--Maybe…a little...”

You cup his face and laugh, pressing your foreheads together. He chuckles a little, it wasn’t that long ago but so much is different since then, both of your worlds have completely changed. You run your fingers through his hair. “...Did you like what you saw?” You wiggle your eyebrows up and down flirtatiously.

“--Don’t make me answer that!” He scoffs, stifling a grin.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” You sit up next to him in the bed, crossing your legs and stretching your arms above your head, breasts proudly exposed. Muriel still looking away embarrassed, you know that was a bit hard for him to talk about and you take pity on him.“ _Daww,_ Muriel, my love! Come here~” You pull him into your body, the back of his head and shoulder resting on your breasts as you exfoliate his scalp. “...Don’t feel bad! That was a long time ago! Besides, I knew you were just to be looking out for me!” He exhales deeply enjoying your love and he closes his eyes comfortably. 

“...I guess I remember that day because…” He lifts his head upwards to look at your face, waiting for you to continue. “...Because that's when I knew I was starting to fall..in love with you. I _wanted_ you...” You start to blush and chuckle softly “... and that I wanted to _be_ with you.”

He darts to the corner of the hut, then back to you in astonishment. “Re--really?”

You start to massage the back of his head and neck and you firmly nod to him.

“--All the way back then? ...you w--wanted-- me?”

“Is that so hard to believe? We did end up kissing that day...if you remember.”

He nods, smiles bashfully. You tap your fingers on his shoulder, cuing him roll over to face you. “Rhemi, I’m too heavy-- I don’t wanna squish you.” He gripes but still is turned over obediently.

“Oh, hush!” You say softly, kissing his forehead. “I’m not that delicate, dear. You didn’t squish me last night.~” He starts to bury his face in your soft breasts, wrapping one arm around the small of your back. He then starts fondling your tits gently, he may complain about not wanting to squish you, but he really does love it. You start to massage the large muscles on his neck, you feel him start to become nearly boneless. Sometime passes and then he looks up at you as if he has something on his mind. “What?” You keep massaging him and running your fingers through his hair.

“It’s strange that you mention about that time. I actually....... think about it a lot.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah It reminds me” Muriel buries his face into your breasts a little, muffling his words ”....I--I just…I’ve… I’ve been meaning to...--N-Nothing. Never mind. It-it’s dumb.”

“You can tell me anything, Mur. I never will think your dumb.”

Thinking he may not tell you, he starts to speak reluctantly, “... remember the fox burrow?….”

“Yeah.. the little fox family? That's why that little bastard stole the clothes in the first place. They did it for their family.”

He slightly trembles “...That day I thought about...how nice it would be to have that…”. He pauses, you feel his heartbeat start to pick up . “..to have that...with... with you…” His deep emerald green eyes stare thoughtfully into yours. You feel like you can look into his soul, and a sudden chill runs up your spine.

“Mu-- Muriel?” He lifts himself off your chest. Sits on his knees and takes your left hand, holding it with both of his, stroking your palm with his thumbs sweetly. He stares at your small hand, shivering, he looks all of a sudden so terrified. _What is he trying to say?_

“I’m….I’m not much….but--”

Your heart starts to race. _Is… Is he trying to ask what I think he’s going to ask?_

He exhales trembling a little more, muttering, “...fuckthisisreallyhard…” Then takes in a big inhale, sheepishly continuing, “But-- _ahh.._. if...if you’d like-- I mean… If you...wouldn’t mind...having me--”

“Muriel, are you… asking me to--?” Your brush your right and on his cheek, pushing his black hair out of his face. “...do you want me to marry you, Muriel?”

He stares at you, then looks down at the blankets “....You can say _no_ if you--” 

You jump up and wrap your arms and legs around his body, making him fall onto your back. You look deeply into his eyes, words can not describe how joyous are feeling right now. “--Yes!” You haven’t a second thought, all you have ever wanted was to be with him.

“What? R--really?” He flutters his eyes in disbelief, he hovers over your body, pushing his arms into the bed.

“Yes, Muriel. Of course I will.” He flips you on you side and slowly starts to wrap his arms you. You both tightly embrace each other. “...I want to spend the rest of my life with you...I want to have little baby foxes with you--have a little fox family with you. I want to grow old with you.” Tears start to fall from Muriel’s eyes, completely overcome with joy and disbelief; these words, he never thought he would hear them. Just a year ago, he was alone, forgotten by all of the world, only Asra and Inanna. Never did he dream that he would have the chance to experience this, any of it.

“I love you, Muriel.” You can’t help but cry with him, your heart feels like it is overflowing. He kisses your lips passionately holding you tightly as if he never wants to let this feeling or this moment go. Your foreheads touch once you part for air. You both wipe the tears from each other’s eyes as you both laugh and press short light kisses on your lips, never breaking your smile. 

“I love you, too...” Muriel’s tension completely melts into the bed as he lets out an incredibly hard and loud sigh. “That was…..the hardest thing I have ever done!”

You then notice other things that are really hard… Your inner thigh starts to rub against his very erect member, you have a mischievous grin, biting your lower lip. You both exchange glances of lustful longing, Muriel can no longer hold back, he starts kissing and lightly biting your neck, as you cover your bodies with the blanket making it pitch black and start to ravage each other.~

Afterwords:

“...I know he’s joking, but Asra said he’d officiate…”

“Yeah-- He told me that he would the day we first kissed.”

“....Wait what??”

_Tee-hee~_

**The End~**


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